2012 Fantasy Football: The Actual Top 100 Picks

There is a lot of preparation that goes into fantasy football drafts. Some use personal knowledge and players from favorite teams, some buy magazines, and other utilize the list created by the website their league is associated with. Regardless, a lot of faith is placed on these resources, which sometimes can be outdated and not include important injury updates.

As the draft season began, I had an idea about draft order. No one actually drafts in the order of said magazines or websites. People draft with experts and novices, based on past knowledge or team favoritism, go with auto-pick, or see one WR draft from a team and immediately draft the WR2 from the same team (Dez Bryant and Miles Austin, Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker). I drafted in two leagues with people I knew, drafted three more in free leagues, and one in a Yahoo! Pro league with strangers. These drafts are based on normal fantasy point systems and 10 team leagues.

The following are the results of comparing the picks from all six leagues. The remaining results are the overall top 100 actual picks the average fantasy user makes, not what you typically read in fantasy draft preparations.

Pick 4: LeSean McCoy, Philadelphia Eagles, RB

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Average Pick: 4.67

Highest Pick: 2nd

Lowest Pick: 7th

Yahoo Rank: 3rd

McCoy fell a spot based on Yahoo rankings, which is quite surprising. McCoy is in an offense with an oft-injured QB Michael Vick, so you would have imagine the Eagles would be dependent on the running game.

Pick 5: Tom Brady, New England Patriots QB

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Average Pick: 5.67

Highest Pick: 3rd

Lowest Pick: 7th

Yahoo Rank: 7th

This is where we start to see the influence of the "year of the quarterback" in this year's drafts. Brady was drafted as high as four spots above Yahoo's rankings. It also helped his cause that his receiving options this year make the Patriots an unstoppable force.

Pick 6: Calvin Johnson, Detroit Lions WR

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Average Pick: 7.5

Highest Pick: 4th

Lowest Pick: 9th

Yahoo Rank: 4th

It does make sense that Megatron is ranked fourth on Yahoo's draft list. It doesn't make sense that he actually would be drafted fourth in most leagues. There is a large pool of quality receivers to choose from in this year's draft, and limited great quarterbacks and running backs to choose from. Regardless, Johnson should put up great numbers for any fantasy team this year.

Pick 8: Chris Johnson, Tennessee Titans RB

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Average Pick: 10.83

Highest Pick: 8th

Lowest Pick: 12th

Yahoo Rank: 8th

There is a lot of mystery surrounding Johnson and if he can become the elite running back he once was. Obviously both online rankings and actual draft results show that Johnson is still worthy of a first-round pick

Pick 10: Larry Fitzgerald, WR

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Average Pick: 16

Highest Pick: 8th

Lowest Pick: 22nd

Yahoo Rank: 12th

Play the blame game on why Fitzgerald's average pick was four spots lower than the Yahoo ranking. It's the quarterback issues in Arizona, and a lack of confidence drafters have in their lead receiver because of this.

Pick 11: Rob Gronkowski, New England Patriots TE

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Average Pick: 16.67

Highest Pick: 12th

Lowest Pick: 20th

Yahoo Rank: 13th

The season Gronk put together in 2011 was simply amazing, and won't happen again in 2012. People will draft him far too high for an receiving corp as deep as the Patriots. Look for Gronk's and Aaron Hernandez's stats to balance out a little in 2012.

Pick 12: Maurice Jones-Drew, Jacksonville Jaguars RB

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Average Pick: 17

Highest Pick: 6th

Lowest Pick: 32nd

Yahoo Rank: 24th

Even with Jones-Drew's holdout and missing all of training camp, drafters were still confident enough to take him as high as the sixth overall pick. Team owners will suffer in Week 1 with Rashad Jennings starting, but that obviously won't last past the season opener.

Pick 13: Matt Forte, Chicago Bears RB

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Average Pick: 17.33

Highest Pick: 9th

Lowest Pick: 21st

Yahoo Rank: 10th

Forte's average draft was much lower than Yahoo's rankings. This is most likely due to the Bears adding Michael Bush to the Bears backfield, set to steal goal-line scores and a decent chunk of yardage.

Pick 17: Cam Newton, Carolina Panthers QB

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Average Pick: 22.33

Highest Pick: 10th

Lowest Pick: 27th

Yahoo Rank: 18th

Cam Newton is a risky pick, coming off of a stellar rookie campaign in 2011. One has to worry if he will hit a sophomore slump, which could occur as defenses will be prepared for him to run the ball in 2012.

Pick 18: Adrian Peterson, Minnesota Vikings RB

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Average Pick: 23.5

Highest Pick: 12th

Lowest Pick: 29th

Yahoo Rank: 31st

Peterson was ranked as the second player to pick in 2011 drafts. Injury has great influence on draft order, especially if you are questionable for the start of the season (and had to practice for a period without being touched). Peterson has now fallen to a low second round/high third round pick. If he regains his prior form, he will be a steal at this pick.

Pick 19: DeMarco Murray, Dallas Cowboys RB

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Average Pick: 24.67

Highest Pick: 12th

Lowest Pick: 35th

Yahoo Rank: 19th

The Cowboys seemed to find their solution at running back with DeMarco Murray. Then Murray had to go and injure himself at the end of the season, which leads to weary fantasy owners in 2012. Murray is now picked on average in the third round, but he is young and should bounce back nicely this season.